25/10/2024
🌟 International Day of Action for Trans Depathologisation 🌟
🏳️⚧️ Today, on International Day of Action for Trans Depathologisation— We call for an end to the treatment of trans identities as ‘mental health conditions’.
🏥 Even though WHO ICD-11 reforms in 2019 stopped classifying trans identities as a mental health disorder, trans-specific healthcare continues to be pathologised in almost all European and Central Asian countries.
Only 🇲🇹Malta, 🇩🇰 Denmark, and eight regions of 🇪🇸 Spain (that we have info for) don’t require a psychiatric diagnosis to access trans-specific healthcare.
🩺Slow implementation of depathologisation means that access to trans-specific healthcare relies on a diagnosis rather than informed consent and individual decision-making.
💊 This leaves the door open for stigmatised views of trans-specific healthcare and about trans people as people who need fixing, making the person’s healthcare needs and desires a secondary concern.
💉 All of this affects the medical advice trans people receive, the overall environment and language used in healthcare settings, and public discussion on healthcare for trans people.
🧠 Focusing on a psychiatric diagnosis drains resources from already strained mental healthcare systems and distracts from the need for ongoing psychosocial support, which is an essential aspect of trans-specific healthcare.
🚧 This is clear when looking at the availability of psychological care in the EU. In many Member States, such as France, Ireland, Denmark, Czechia, and Slovakia, psychological care exists, but access is challenging for everyone, with trans people facing even more barriers. As a result, many trans people, often in difficult economic situations, are forced to look to expensive private healthcare, which is more often out of reach.
📅 To learn more about depathologisation and trans-specific healthcare in the EU, be sure to check out the 2024 edition of Trans Health Map 2024, out on 30 October!